Comcast's Roberts Demonstrates Connection to Netflix

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts demonstrated how Netflix will be presented on the Xfinity X1 platform. At the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference in New York Tuesday, Roberts showed how Netflix subscribers will be able to authenticate and watch programs through the cable box.

Netflix shows will be searchable using Comcast's voice remote. And in cases where Xfinity has stacking rights to the episodes of a show's current season, if Netflix has the prior seasons, that will also show up on the interface.

If the Comcast subscriber doesn't have Netflix, an upselling opportunity will be created.

Roberts noted that Netflix's kids programming will be available to subscribers via the kids section of the guide. Comcast recently bought DreamWorks Animation, which provides a lot of kids content for Netflix.

Roberts said that X1 is now available in about half of Comcast's footprint and that having a critical mass of X1 boxes was one reason why integrating Netflix was possible now. He said now that Netflix is available via Xfinity, other over-the-top providers can use a similar template to become available to Comcast subscribers.

Integrating Netflix into Xfinity gives consumers access to more content at a time when other distributors and over-the-top competitors are rolling out skinny programming bundles.

While Comcast is also testing some skinny bundles, "our focus is to make the bundle more valuable," Roberts said.

Roberts also demonstrated a new wireless cable box that connects to cable via Wi-Fi and a broadband gateway with speeds of 9 gigabytes for Wi-Fi.